Tag Archives: medical facts

Today I found out why doctors have men “turn their heads and cough” during a physical. Pretty much all guys have been there at some point or another. The doctor asks you to drop your drawers. They slap on their latex gloves, grab your junk, and ask you to turn your head and cough. One imagines this can’t exactly be […]

Today I found out it is possible for your muscles and other connective soft tissues to turn to bone. The condition is known as Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP) or “Stone Man Syndrome”. It affects an estimated 1 out of every 2 million people beginning when they are children, and to date there is no cure. The telltale sign of someone […]

J.Temple asks: Why are the Olympians wearing colored tape on random parts of their bodies? The colored tape the Olympians and other athletes wear is called “Kinesio® Tex Tape”, which is essentially just an elastic cotton strip with an acrylic, heat activated adhesive. The tape was designed in the 1970s by a Japanese chiropractic and acupuncture specialist, Kenzo Kase. To […]

Today I found out what causes lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance is simply the body’s inability to digest lactose. Lactose is a disaccharide, or a molecule made up of two types of sugars, in this case, glucose and galactose. Most people have an enzyme (a protein molecule that breaks down other molecules) lactase in their digestive systems. This enzyme breaks down […]

Large enough quantities of capsaicin may cause your skin to turn blue-ish, severely inhibit your breathing, cause convulsions, and possible eventual death. However, the relatively small amount of capsaicin in peppers makes it unlikely you’d ever come in contact with enough of this to have this actually happen, unless someone sprayed a significant amount of law enforcement grade pepper spray […]

Myth: Proper CPR technique should include frequent use of “mouth to mouth” in between compressions. In fact, the 2010 guidelines set out by the American Heart Association (AHA) do not recommend breathing for someone while performing CPR (and not for your health, as you might think, but for the person experiencing cardiac arrest’s chances of survival). If you’re a person […]

Myth: Reading in a dimly lit area will damage your eyesight. In fact, the only “damage” reading in a dimly lit setting will do, in comparison to reading in an ample lighted setting, is to cause extra eyestrain, which will go away simply by resting your eyes. This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given the fact that for […]

Redheads are harder to sedate than any other group. Using most common anesthetics, they require on average about 20% more anesthesia. They also have a higher tolerance for pain than ‘normal’ people. This is because the Melancortin 1 Receptor mutation that gives them red hair also triggers the excess release of Pheomelanin, which among other things stimulates a brain receptor […]

Today I found out why beans give you gas. Beans contain a sugar molecule called ‘Oligosaccharides’. These types of sugars cannot be digested by the stomach or small intestine. They get passed on to the large intestine where numerous types of bacteria begin to break them down. During the process, the bacteria release several different types of gases, mainly hydrogen, […]

Today I found out what causes hiccups. In medical terms, a hiccup can be called a hiccough, a synchronous diaphragmatic flutter, or singlutus. Hiccups are classified into three categories: normal, protracted or persistent, and intractable. Protracted are those hiccups that last over 48 hours, but not more than one month. Intractable hiccups continue for more than one month. If hiccups […]

Today I found out what causes limbs to “fall asleep”. Technically known as “paresthesia”, this syndrome is caused by the compression of specific nerves. When you sit cross-legged, sleep with your arm above your head, or position any limb in such a way to put excess pressure on a nerve, that nerve will stop sending impulses normally. Should the pressure […]

Today I found out how scars form. One of the main components of skin is a protein called collagen. Skin collagen is primarily made from specialized cells called fibroblasts. After scab formation, fibroblasts that are hanging out under the surface of the skin will begin leaking into the clot just under the scab. Once the clot is sufficiently soaked with […]

Today I found out what causes headaches. There are approximately 200 different types of headaches, classified in two main groups: primary and secondary. There are in the neighborhood of 42 types of primary headaches and 157 secondary headaches (unless I lost count, but should you want to verify those numbers, or just need a sleep-aid, feel free to review the […]

Today I found out what causes a stroke. A stroke, known in the medical field as a cerebral vascular accident (CVA) or brain attack, is more or less a “heart attack” for the brain. Like any organ in the body, the brain needs blood to supply it with oxygen and nutrients. Should this blood flow become blocked by a clot […]

Today I found out why your nose gets runny when it is cold. On an average day, a typical person’s nose will produce about one quart of mucus/fluid (just under one liter). Most all of this snot generally gets passed back into your throat and swallowed, often without you even really being too conscious of it. When you’re breathing cold […]

Today I found what causes birthmarks. There are several different types of birthmarks. What causes them is an excess of pigment cells (Melanoctyes), or an excess of blood vessels confined to one area of the skin. Birthmarks caused by an excess of pigment in certain areas of the skin are known as pigmented birthmarks. The color of your skin is […]